In a recent interview with Louder Sound, Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen recently disclosed one thing his band stole from Aerosmith. While talking about the process of the creation of their song ‘Armageddon It’, the guitarist revealed what the band stole, and said:
“Run DMC was really popular back then, and the whole Aerosmith crossover thing [with Walk This Way] was just happening too, so we kinda stole that idea for the vocal. And the guitar part was really just to fill the gaps without going all the way through it. So there was plenty of space, like hip-hop or something like that.”
In the same interview, Collen stated that earlier in the song’s writing process, if it weren’t for their producer Robert’ Mutt’ Lange, it would’ve taken much longer for the song to be finished. The band even thought it would take another six months, but they were wrong. The song, apparently, took ten days to finish. The guitarist explained:
“We’d finished the record and were just winding down. And we’d already spent so long [on the album] that it was a bit like: ‘Oh, fuck. Not another song that’s going to take six months.’ It didn’t, of course. It actually took about 10 days, because we were getting the hang of it.”
According to what Collen said, Mutt even gave the idea for the song. He recalled:
“We were having a five-minute coffee break. Mutt disappeared, and I went into the control room and started playing this thing. Mutt comes back and asks what it was. I said it was just this idea I’d got – no big deal. He said: ‘That’s the best hook I’ve heard in five or 10 years. We should absolutely do this song.’ And, of course, I was thinking there was no way the guys were gonna go for it”
Def Leppard is not just the band who stole a few pieces of the Aerosmith song, they have also had their own melodies stolen. Ten years ago, the once-famous boyband One Direction was said to have used the structure of Def Leppard’s ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ for their song ‘Midnight Memories‘. While there were reports that Def Leppard would take legal action, the band later confirmed that they would not pursue it, as they felt the songs were only “very similar in structure”.
You can listen to ‘Armageddon It’ below.
